Here is my story from Friday’s New Era about local swimmers who earned top seeds in the upcoming District 3 Meet …
What do Joe Kinderwater, Kevin Brazitis and Brandon Siemasko have in common?
Those three Lancaster County swimmers earned No. 1 seeds in the upcoming District 3 championship meet, and they’ll be favorites to win their events when swimmers hit the pool on March 2 at Cumberland Valley High School.
Kinderwater, Hempfield’s senior distance specialist and University of North Carolina recruit, is the No. 1 seed in the Triple-A 500-yard freestyle (4:33.88).
Siemasko, Penn Manor’s budding sophomore superstar, is the No. 1 seed in the Triple-A 200-yard freestyle (1:46.02).
And Brazitis, Manheim Township’s up-and-coming junior, is the No. 1 seed in the Triple-A 100 butterfly (52.90).
Kinderwater, Siemasko and Brazitis are the only three Lancaster County swimmers to earn a No. 1 seed. No local girls’ swimmers will be favorites, and no Lancaster County boys’ or girls’ swimmers earn better than a No. 4 seed in the Double-A meet.
Here’s a closer look at the local swimmers who qualified for Districts:
TRIPLE-A BOYS
Kinderwater, the defending 500 free champ, also earned a No. 3 seed in the 200 individual medley (1:58.22), and Siemasko also earned a No. 2 seed in the 100 backstroke (53.46).
Conestoga Valley senior Chase Caruso, a University of Indiana recruit, is seeded second in the 50 free (21.72) and second in the 100 free (47.99). He won the silver medal in both of those events in Districts last year, before winning the PIAA 50 free title.
A trio of Caruso’s teammates also earned a pair of top-three seeds: junior Joe Jung is second in the 100 butterfly (53.34), senior Josh Nyce is third in the 100 free (48.16), and senior Chris Sheerer (that’s him on the right) is third in the 100 backstroke (53.29).
Caruso, Jung, Nyce and Sheerer are seeded second in the 200 free relay (1:28.47), and Caruso, Nyce, Sheerer and sophomore Drew Wissler are the top seeds in the 400 free relay (3:14.97).
CV is the defending champ in both of those relay events.
Other local top qualifiers include Warwick sophomore Colin Schouten (second in 200 free in 1:46.33), Cocalico junior Marc Maurizi (third in 100 butterfly in 53.39), and Hempfield sophomore Dan Lumas (third in 100 breaststroke in 1:02.04).
TRIPLE-A GIRLS
Three swimmers earned a No. 2 seed: Hempfield sophomore Sarah Ault in the 100 free (52.98), Hempfield senior Kayla Zeller in the 500 free (5:02.42), and Warwick sophomore Emily Eidemiller in the 100 backstroke (59.01).
Zeller, a Towson University recruit, also earned a No. 3 seed in the 200 free (1:55.99), and two of her teammates earned No. 3 seeds: sophomore Georgia Emert in the 200 IM (2:12.68) and freshman Dana Schleif in the 100 backstroke (59.22).
Manheim Township sophomore Lindsay Mullican is third in the 500 free (5:13.35).
And a pair of Hempfield’s relay teams should make a splash: Zeller, Ault, Emert and Schleif are second in the 400 free relay (3:41.26), and Zeller, Ault, Schleif and Ella Meier are third in the 200 free relay (1:40.87).
Hempfield is the defending champ in both of those relay events.
DOUBLE-A BOYS
Pequea Valley sophomore Zach Wilt earned a No. 4 seed in the 100 butterfly (54.45) and Donegal sophomore Brandon Smith is seeded fourth in the 100 free (49.27).
Wilt is also fifth in the 100 free (49.97), and Smith is fifth in the 50 free (22.42).
DOUBLE-A GIRLS
Lancaster Catholic junior Lauren Malloy earned the best seed of any Lancaster County swimmer – she’s sixth in the 200 free (2:00.70).
JEFFREY REINHART
